WMD Phase Displacement Oscillator MKII

The MKII version of the PDO is available: Better CV handling, 16 HP, single PCB instead of stacked boards.

This hybrid VCO has all the feel of an analog VCO but with the benefits of digital waveshaping. The PDO will easily find a home in your system!

The PDO exists to utilize the phenomenon of Phase Modulation (PM). This allows for the relative phase difference of its outputs to be set or modulated, producing very interesting sounds. The result is similar to Frequency Modulation (FM) but affects the output to a greater degree without affecting the stability of the initial frequency. This is where the "displacement" comes in.

When you use frequency stable phase displacement, you create phase distortion which sounds like wavefolding and is very useful for dynamic textures and powerful sounds.

PM has the same benefits of quadrature filters/sine wave generators and greatly exceeds their capabilities at audio rate modulations. PM is highly useful for for creating metallic and bell tones and very controlled harmonic interactions.

Because PM affects the relative phase and not the frequency of the waveform generated, the PDO can self modulate its PM inputs. This creates complex harmonic signals that seem to vary in frequency but are quite stable.

Phase Modulation is also quite powerful when using the PDO as an LFO. Adjusting the relative phase of each output allows for very precise modulation of other modules. Each output can have any of the available waveforms simultaneously. There is a myriad of modulation possible with the PDO!

Features:

• Analog Sawcore VCO
• Temperature Compensated
• Linear or Expo FM
• Calibrated 1V/Oct Input
• Hard Sync Input (LFO Reset)
• ~.0012Hz (14min) to >=10kHz
• Digital Waveshaper
• Four Separate Waveform Outputs
• Phase Modulation for Outputs 2,3,4
• Global Phase Input
• Invertible CV Inputs for Phase Mod
• Any waveform on any output
• 14 Bit Input, 12 bit Output
• 100kHz Sample Rate
• Channel Indicator LEDs
• Sum output of all channels
• Normaled Sum output
• Expandable
• Expand/Jack CV simultaneous
• 16HP, +85mA -45mA Power Draw